Certain in vivo devices may be introduced into a body in a location remote to the area where their sensing, diagnosing or other functions may be performed. For example, an in vivo device for imaging areas of the small intestine may be introduced into a body through the mouth and pass through the stomach and other parts of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract by way of peristalsis until reaching the small intestine. Similarly, an in vivo device may be introduced into a body wherein the location of an area of interest or of a suspected pathology may be unknown or uncertain, thereby necessitating that an in vivo device pass from its point of introduction and locate the area of pathology where its sensing functions or other functions may be required for diagnosing pathologies or performing other functions.
In vivo devices such as sensors are generally configured to capture sensory data on a fixed schedule that may be set or programmed into the in vivo sensor before it may be introduced into a body. For example, an in vivo image sensor may be configured to capture images at fixed intervals beginning with the time that it is introduced into the body. Typically, an in vivo sensor may be activated by a doctor or medical practitioner who assists in introducing such sensor into the body. Other in vivo sensors may be activated before ingestion, for example, automatically upon their removal from their original packaging. As a result, an in vivo sensor introduced to a location in the body that may be remote from an area of interest or suspected pathology in a body, may perform its sensing functions or other functions in locations other than the area of interests for example where no pathology or suspected pathology exists. The performance of such superfluous sensing may inefficiently utilize the power supply, data collection, data transfer (bandwidth), data storage capacity and/or other of the sometimes limited resource of the in vivo sensor. Redundant data may be required to be reviewed by the physician, increasing the overall review time.
The capturing of data by an in vivo sensor based on a fixed schedule may result on the one hand, in superfluous data being collected in areas that may be of little diagnostic or other interest, and, on the other hand, in insufficient sensory data being captured of in vivo areas that may be of particular diagnostic or other interest. For example, an in vivo image capturing system may be programmed to capture in vivo images at a rate of, for example, two frames per second. While such frame capture rate may be for example sufficient to generally capture adequate images of most of the small bowel, such frame capture rate may be too slow to achieve the level of imaging detail that may be required for areas such as the esophagus or other areas.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for allowing an efficient and effective operation of an in vivo device.